Drug Courts

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether an evaluation of drug courts has been commissioned; and, if so, when it was commissioned and when the results of that evaluation will become available.

Lord McNally: The evaluation of the six Specialist Dedicated Drug Court pilots was published in January 2011.
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-drug-court-process-evaluation.

Genetically Modified Organisms

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will place in the Library of the House copies of the transboundary notification documents supplied by Oxitec Limited in relation to its plans to export genetically modified insects for release in (1) Spain, (2) Italy, (3) Brazil, (4) Morocco, and (5) Panama.

Lord De Mauley: The Government has not received any documents from Oxitec Limited in relation to exports of genetically modified (GM) insects to Spain, Italy, Morocco or Panama. Exports to other EU countries do not need to be notified to the Government, nor do exports to non-EU countries where the GM organisms are intended to be kept in contained-use facilities. We shall place in the Library a copy of the documents supplied by Oxitec for its export of GM mosquitoes to Brazil, some of which were made available previously in response to an earlier Parliamentary Question. As before, some material has been redacted for reasons of commercial confidentiality.

Government Departments: Ministerial Responsibilities

Baroness Lister of Burtersett: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which Minister in the Department for Work and Pensions has strategic responsibility for those granted refugee status as they make the transition to mainstream benefits.

Lord Freud: The Minister responsible for migration and refugees is the Minister of State for Employment, Ms Esther McVey MP.

Iran

Lord Dykes: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to reduce the international isolation of Iran.

Baroness Warsi: Iran’s international isolation is a result of the regime's policies: its continued defiance of UN Security Council resolutions over its nuclear programme; its support of instability in the region; and its appalling human rights record. We hope that the new Iranian government will take concrete steps to address these issues and enable us and the wider international community to improve relations with Iran. We are ready to make the most of any opportunity and increase our dialogue. On 8 October the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), announced that the UK would appoint a non-resident Chargé d’affaires to Iran to enable greater direct contact.

Marriage

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider raising the legal age of marriage in England and Wales from 16 to 18, in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which defines those under the age of 18 as children.

Lord McNally: The Government does not consider that it is necessary to amend the age at which people can enter into marriage. No person under the age of 16 can marry in England and Wales and any marriage under that age will be void. In England and Wales it is possible to marry from the age of 16 with parental consent and from 18 without consent. The Government believes the existing provisions that require parental consent for people under the age of 18 to marry provide adequate protection for people entering into marriage.

Mobile Phones: Theft

Lord Birt: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prosecutions took place in 2012 relating to the theft of mobile phones, including smart phones.

Lord McNally: The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. This database holds information on offences provided by the statutes under which proceedings are brought but not the specific circumstances of each case. It is not possible to specifically identify from this centrally held information offences of theft of mobile phones, including smart phones, from other theft from a person offences.

Pensions

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the level of membership in defined benefit occupational pension schemes over the last five years in the private and public sector respectively; and how many of the members in such private sector schemes were in the BBC and Post Office schemes.

Lord Freud: The Occupational Pension Schemes Survey (OPSS), produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), includes information on membership in Defined Benefit Occupational Schemes over the last five years. This is set out below.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of active members of occupational defined benefit pension schemes, by sector, 2008-2012, UK 
			  Public sector Private sector 
			   Millions 
			 2008 5.4 2.6 
			 2009 5.4 2.4 
			 2010 5.3 2.1 
			 2011 5.3 1.9 
			 2012 5.1 1.7 
		
	
	Membership information for the specific pension schemes mentioned is not held by DWP.

Schools: Free Meals

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they propose to finance the recently announced provision of free school meals for all infants.

Lord Nash: Details on the funding of this provision will be announced in the Autumn Statement 2013.

Sudan

Lord Ashcroft: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they are offering to the Justice and Equality Movement in Sudan.

Baroness Warsi: The UK has met with the Justice and Equality Movement, most recently in August this year, to encourage them to participate constructively in international efforts to end the conflict in Darfur. The UK does not provide any support to the Justice and Equality Movement.

Teachers

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to oversee the way help is being given to teachers who will be addressing the revised National Curriculum in September 2014.

Lord Nash: The Government is funding teaching schools to support other schools, both in their alliances and beyond, as they prepare for the new curriculum.
	In the core subjects of mathematics and science, teachers have access to free materials from the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics and from the National Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) centre and we have extended the matched funding scheme for phonics. We are also expanding the network of teaching excellence in computer science. We are working with expert subject groups and publishers to identify any gaps in quality teaching materials that need to be filled across the national curriculum subjects, and how this might best be done.
	Now that the final version of the new national curriculum is available, we are using a range of communications channels to make sure that schools are aware of the changes and know where they can access quality support to prepare to introduce them.

Teachers

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they ensure that action has been taken to identify (1) the subject areas, and (2) the schools, in which teachers feel insecure in teaching the revised curriculum in 2014.

Lord Nash: We have been working with subject experts to identify the areas of the new national curriculum that will be most challenging for teachers and where we know that there is a lack of quality teaching materials. We are using this information to help publishers,
	educational suppliers and others to identify the gaps that need to be filled. This work has also supported providers in adapting their initial teacher training to take account of the new curriculum.
	Teaching schools will be working with the schools in their alliances and beyond to help them to prepare for the new curriculum. We will be carrying out surveys to assess school readiness and take any necessary action.

Turkey

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Warsi on 23 September (WA 443), whether they maintain a list of countries
	which do not permit international observers in court rooms; and if so, whether they will publish that list.

Baroness Warsi: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not maintain a list of countries which do not permit international observers in court rooms.
	Further to the Written Answer on 23 September (WA 443), international observers were only prevented from observing the Ergenekon hearing on 5 August. This is not a general principle in court cases in Turkey. The UK and EU partners have observed cases in Turkey on previous occasions and will continue to make clear our interest in doing so.